Fire Fri Nov 13 2009

Chicago Fire to Take on Salt Lake in Conference Final

It will be six years to the day since Chicago last hosted an Eastern Conference Final. On November 14, 2003 the Fire defeated New England at Soldier Field to advance to the MLS cup. This year, Toyota Park will be the scene of the deciding game versus Real Salt Lake.

The Fire and Salt Lake will have their third meeting of the season tomorrow. While the Fire dominated in the regular season against Salt Lake, with a record of 1-0-1, it will still be an intense match, especially with a trophy in sight. Salt Lake qualified for the playoffs in the final week of the regular season after having five teams seeded ahead of them. They defeated Colorado to claim a wildcard spot and then downe the first place Columbus Crew to make it to the final. Clearly, this is not going to be easy.

But Chicago has a strong team, and coming off a solid win against the Revolution last weekend has heightened their momentum. Plus, they are playing at home, and the crowd at Toyota Park is nothing short of intimidating. Hopefully playing at home will be an advantage for the Fire as it was last week. We will have to wait and see.

The winner of the game will be awarded the Eastern Conference Trophy by the Major League Commissioner Don Garber on the field following the match. And with a win, the Fire would advance to the 2009 MLS Cup Final in Seattle on November 22. The game starts at 7 p.m. Saturday, November 14. It will air on

— Vanessa Day / Comments (1)